District 11 Public Affairs
Alameda, Calif.

Fact Sheet

Date:  Dec. 6, 2007

Contact: (510) 772-8865

Record Drug Year Announcement 2007

International drug trafficking organizations are among the most powerful and dangerous organized crime groups confronting the United States. It is believed their drug revenues fund international terrorism and other transnational criminal activities.

One half of State and one third of Federal prisoners reported committing their offenses under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The Coast Guard credits recent record seizures to three primary factors:

Negotiation of international agreements with our partner nations - Since 1981, the Coast Guard, in cooperation with the Departments of Justice and State, has negotiated 26 bilateral agreements with our drug interdiction partner nations in and around the transit zone. The value of these agreements is seen everyday in the U.S. Government's ability to gain jurisdiction over interdicted smugglers. The result is more prosecutions in U.S. courts and longer sentences under U.S. law for those convicted of drug trafficking. Most importantly, successful prosecutions in the U.S. provide investigators the ability to acquire actionable intelligence about drug movements and the illegal drug trade.

More actionable, tactical intelligence - Through interagency cooperation, Coast Guard benefits from the joint Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice investigative task force known as Panama Express (PANEX), which provides realtime, actionable, tactical drug-related intelligence to Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) South in Key West, Florida. Currently, more actionable intelligence is being generated than can be acted upon by drug interdiction forces. Sufficient numbers of long-range Maritime Patrol Aircraft, with robust sensor and communications packages, are critical to the early detection and reporting of suspect vessels;

More capable interdiction assets - The Coast Guard has more capable assets in its armed helicopters and faster over-the-horizon (OTH) cutter small boats to thwart go-fast smuggling boats. Through the employment of Airborne Use of Force, AUF (armed helicopters), by the Coast Guard's Helicopter Tactical Interdiction Squadron (HITRON), and the United States, Dutch and British Royal Navies with Coast Guard LEDETs embarked, the Coast Guard is able to stop the small, fast 45-plus knot vessels carrying multi-ton loads of cocaine. Since 2002, AUF helicopters have contributed directly to over 120 go-fast interdictions and the seizure of more than 166-metric tons of cocaine.

Seizure totals...

Year - Pounds of cocaine 

2000 - 132,480;  2001 - 138,393;  2002 - 117,780;  2003 -136,865;                                                                                                    2004 - 241,713;  2005 - 303,662;  2006 - 287,035;  2007 -  355,755

Link to drug interdiction B-roll 

Link to drug interdiction B-roll 

Record drug bust offload in Alameda, April, 2007 -  Photo 1

                                                                          Photo 2

###

 U.S. Coast Guard- More than one million lives saved since 1790.